Fears Afghan runoff will be fixed

THE UN has announced it will replace more than half the top officials in Afghanistan's presidential polls because of suspected fraud as the country gears up for an election runoff many fear will be even less credible. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that 200 officials suspected of involvement in the disputed August elections would be replaced for the November 7 runoff between President Hamid Karzai and his rival, Abdullah Abdullah. Mr Ban said the UN had learned "quite a painful lesson" from the August poll. "We realised that it was quite difficult for a young democracy to stand on its own, even with strong international assistance, particularly by the UN," he told the BBC. "We will try to replace all the officials who have been implicated in not following the guidelines or who have been complicit in fraudulent procedures." Analysts and diplomats expressed concern at the two-week time frame for the runoff, saying it was too short to correct the security lapses that paved the way for the first round's skewed result.